Potential Drawbacks?

Dues payments: Faculty and staff who are members may end up paying dues and representing non-members or non-dues-payers.

Union meetings and negotiations could add more governance duties for some faculty.

Negotiations may adversely affect the campus climate, exacerbating existing tensions between faculty, staff and the administration.

Union positions sometimes reflect the disparities in power among those who are represented.

While average wages are typically 10-15 percent higher in unionized settings, wage compression is often an outcome of unionization. Wage compression increases the difficulty of recruiting and retaining top performers and faculty in higher paid disciplines.

Unions are sometimes criticized for protecting poor performing employees while making it harder to reward top performers. As job security is greater under union contracts, it can be harder for organizations to terminate employment of poor performers.